Chinatown's Biggest TOURIST TRAP? Joe's Shanghai Review in NYC!

hey guys and welcome to another episode of UA eats I'm UA we're back in one of my favorite neighborhoods we're in Manhattan Chinatown and while I was in the real Chinatown not long ago flushings Chinatown and queens Manhattan Chinatown not so bad either although it has become quite a bit more touristy than before but still a great spot there's lots of great eats here I'm actually right across from one of my favorite dessert spots around Chinatown Ice Cream Factory for a lot of Chinese Asian kind of themed ice cream flavors I highly recommend you check it out we are here not for dessert we are here to get some soup dumplings something that is kind of hard to get where I live in New Jersey so we're going to be eating at the most famous soup dumpling place in all of New York maybe even one of the most famous Chinese restaurants in New York in general Joe Shanghai now when I first moved to New York I thought Joe Shanghai was so great but uh you know lately I feel like there are better options for soup dumplings but I haven't tried it for many years now so I've been meaning to give it another chance to you know see if maybe it was kind of an overcorrection on my part where before I thought it was amazing because because I'd never had such good soup dumplings before then I ate at other spots I felt like some other places like Nanchang were better but maybe now I've overcorrected and maybe Joe Shanghai is actually still pretty solid there are some people who think it's a tourist trap but maybe that's an overcorrection and maybe it's actually still pretty decent it's just that there are are a few better options so we are going to check out the most famous soup dumpling spot in New York and one of the most famous Chinese restaurants in New York City or at least in Manhattan and see if it lives up to the hype Joe Shanghai so let's check it out oh okay thank you [Music] okay guys we are seated now at Joe's Shanghai not Joe Shanghai it's Joe's Shanghai it seems like mask off and yeah it's a pretty large restaurant I think they actually have a few locations and some are a little bit more spacious and wide open such as their Midtown location but this Chinatown location is a little bit more cramped it's so cramped that you know they kind of have us pretty close to the other table they just kind of separated two tables and uh yeah the service here really really quick really efficient although don't expect you know don't exactly expect Michelin star service here it is Chinatown after all and not one of the fancier restaurants but as you can see one of the rooms on the far left is being cut off but it's a really spacious space although it is very narrow let's quickly take a look at the menu here at Joe's Shanghai and yeah as I pointed out earlier keep in mind that this place is cash only Not Unusual in Chinatown but something to keep in mind so make sure you come with cash they do have ATM machines on the outside but you know they'll really own you with their fees so best to come prepared and they're also kind of you know flexing their accolades about them being the best soup dumplings and winning all sorts of awards and things like that now while they do have a lot of menu items here including peeking duck to be honest the main thing to get here really is the soup dumplings and they're actually here in the appetizer section so you know don't go flipping past them trying to look for them in like the main core sections like the seafood and the beef sections they're appetizers and that's the main thing to get here and both the crab meat soup dumplings and the pork soup dumplings are popular here but the pork meat ones are the more standard I used to love the CRA meat ones before I was allergic to crab it was like one of my favorite things to eat in the whole city but sadly I cannot eat crab anymore so I got to go with the pork ones and I got to say these prices have definitely gone up 15 bucks for eight soup dumplings 13 bucks for eight non- crab ones I remember when these were $7 for eight so I guess Chinatown is not immune to inflation either I remember the Midtown location having a bit of a price bump but if even Chinatown is above $112 then that really is unfortunate but let's order some soup dumplings and uh see if it's worth the hype why don't we besides the soup dumplings we're going to go with something called sigy do but it usually will be called in English like sauteed string beans or something like that it's like a really fried crispy string beans served with pork and it's quite nice it's one of my favorite vegetable dishes of all time yeah I guess a Tina might order one or two other items and uh she said that according to her friends this place isn't that good besides their soup dumplings so appreciate you Tina for coming here with me cuz sadly Tina does not eat pork so hopefully she'll find something that she likes to eat here so let's order well it's interesting like their Chinese name is very different from their English translation oh cuz this place is technically called a deer calling for spring oh but they translate to Joe Shanghai maybe they feel Joe Shanghai is more marketable for America American audience interesting a deer chasing spring calling oh a deer calling for [Music] spring Sig do uh and then what do you want always get to practice my Chinese whenever I get a so the food should come pretty quick uh Chinese restaurants you won't wait long so let's just wait oh sh all right so Tina ordered something that I'm not very familiar with these are turnip cakes basically and uh even though this place is not really known for anything besides soup dumplings hey this looks good to me I mean in my ignorance I feel like this looks pretty good like look at that flaky pastry around it like it's almost like a nice flaky pie the other yeah that's the other side oh yeah I was going to flip it but look at that look at those crispy sesame seeds on the bottom not bad right so you got crispiness on the bottom you got flakiness on top and you got some turnip on the inside that might be a better angle from this angle for all you fans of my steak videos this almost looks like a Chinese vegetarian Beef Wellington or something but tiny Let's uh try one of these it will be my first time eating one of these all right first bite not bad what do you think not bad right I will always admit when I don't know what I'm talking about and I have no idea what this is usually like my gut reaction is that I feel like the top could be a little bit more crispy like a little bit more flaky and I also feel like the bottom is not quite as crispy as I was hoping for I feel like the bottom is a little bit hard and dense and I thought that the bottom was going to be like a crisp I don't know maybe this is the way it's supposed to be what you what want to feel a little bit T I think the main part is the inside filling like that's the part like that I like a lot like I like the turnip that's like a little salty but also pretty like wami flavor and it's also like shredded into like small like strings so when you eat it it has like a next texture wow wow look at this Tina is a schooling me I'm going to be out of a job soon soon soon it's soon it's going to be Tina eats do you like it well I guess um I don't taste a turnup as much as the outside so maybe that's telling take a second bite maybe see if it changes it true maybe I need to eat more deep into it so Tina said it's more about the turnup filling so second bite time oh actually that's not bad it's good right M all right so Tina was right it's actually pretty good I think I just got unlucky like I think maybe the filling maybe there was just less filling in the bite that I took like maybe some of the filling got you know smooshed over to the side or something but Tina is absolutely right it's more about the filling it does taste nice and salty Umami was a great way to explain it like it's mostly about eating that fresh salty turnup on the inside and the pastry on the outside so to call it is kind of just like amplifying that so it is sort of like beef wellington almost in a way I still stand by what I said and that I feel like the bottom could stand to be a little bit more crispy like I do think the bottom is a bit hard for my taste but it's still very very good and the filling is absolutely fantastic so Tina ordered a great thing going to knock this out and hopefully this will tide us over until the dumplings arrive H oh here it is oh yes baby look at that that Joy you feel when that steam just comes out once they open the lid like a wonderful magical trick instead of pulling a rabbit out of the Hat you'll pull some soup dumplings and that's the world I would like to live in when magicians pull dumplings out of the Hat instead of a rabbit cuz what am I going to do with a rabbit I can eat a dumpling though all right Tina just corrected me and said that these are not technically dumplings they're technically balds or bows as people call them so all right Tina Mrs know it all knows everything but uh actually you know what the price may be higher than I was expecting but these are actually bigger soup dumplings than I'm accustomed to or remember yeah you can go ahead and take one like it might be really hard for me to show you I guess I'll try to show you for scale maybe with this spoon but as you can see it's actually the dumplings are or the Bal are a pretty good size now it looks like that one might have leaked due to that liquid on the bottom but otherwise I haven't had Shalom ball in a long time soup dumplings and I cannot wait to dig in I'm hoping that this is a skin that like good soup dumplings have a good combination of thin skin where it won't really Mask The Filling and the pork which is the best part but it also needs to be thick and strong enough where it's not going to fall apart when you try to take it out so Joe Shanghai most famous soup dumpling spot in New York whether that title is deserved or not we will put it to the test so just going to like claw machine my way over to the one that I want yeah first try and that is a good sign when it doesn't rip you know by the inevitable stickage that's going to happen now the way that I usually like to eat soup dumplings uh you know I know not all of you who watch this channel may be familiar with soup dumplings or how to eat them but the way that I usually do it is that you bite a hole and then you drink the soup so going to first bite a hole in the sky bite a little hole you can go right ahead and drink the soup but I typically find the soup to be way too hot so I actually have a thing where I typically will like kind of blow the dumpling up like a balloon to cool it down yeah this is the this is the UA eat soup dumpling tactic blow it up like a balloon just to cool it down otherwise you're going to otherwise you're going to Scorch your mouth and then once it's potentially sufficiently cool down drink the liquid inside all right Tina made the mistake of you know eating it too quickly she should have followed the balloon method huh this one actually didn't have too much broth inside it really yeah maybe I just got maybe I just got unlucky mine's a lot oh really cuz that one looks like it leaked but I might have just got unlucky and maybe there's just not much broth in it but no matter bad luck happens you got to eat it with this vinegar though this is a vinegar and Ginger mixture so you know it's up to you some people like to try to put it on the inside some people even like to add the vinegar while they're drinking the soup to kind of have like a vinegary broth mixture me uh you know I like to kind of put the vinegar straight on top after I've drank the soup I don't know like I just kind of like eating it this way there's no right or wrong way to eat it and I'm sure people in the comments are going to be judging this tactic but you know just however you want to eat it so now that we got some vinegar let's take a bite okay so there was more broth than I thought uh I guess some of it might have a lot of the broth was clinging to the meat on the inside but I guess I find the broth a little bit less strong in flavor than I was hoping for you know Nang shalong and other soup dumpling spots that I like the broth is a little bit more fatty a little bit more Savory and um you know I feel like this broth is a bit more bland than I even remembered I don't know maybe my tastes have just changed but let's try another one let's see if this one has more broth so to clarify I know Tina just ate one Tina does not not eat pork for like religious reasons or anything she just kind of is sensitive to it so she can eat it in small portions but she ate just one and she's going to stop there just in case you guys go what but I thought you said she doesn't eat pork you know just to clarify balloon method [Music] then some vinegar I actually sometimes like to get these Ginger pieces on too you know so you get some nice ginger in every bite and I still feel like there's not enough broth maybe they like leaked or something really what I ate has a lot of broth okay now this is a nice chubby looking one so this one is probably hoarding some broth so yep be really careful and U no pun intended gingerly lift them to your plate [Music] I don't know maybe my tastes have changed maybe when I first moved to New York maybe my standards for soup dumplings were different but I do remember them being more rich and fatty even though that one did have more broth I don't know I'm a little bit let down I think I just remember I mean I feel like this place might have just fallen off I remember when Joe Shanghai was a super spot and I remember the soup dumplings being pretty oily on the inside pretty fatty and actually I had a friend from Shanghai where soup dumplings originate from and she actually told me that she didn't like Joe Shanghai because she felt like they were too oily she felt like they were too fatty this time they're less oily they're less fatty and that can be good in like a pure way but they're kind of just more bland you know I'm all for I mean let me clarify I'm not someone who has to eat things that are like fatty and oily to enjoy them you know I like Japanese food a lot which is known for being more light and you know more simple but I'm a little bit let down by this and I don't know how much of it is that my standards have risen but I think the quality might have just gone down let's bite this guy open because we need to dissect dumplings in the name of science so yeah as you can see this one is pretty soupy and we can see the filling on the inside and it does look juicy it does look pretty G generous too chalk full of the filling still the liquid looks pretty clear and that might be good you know my Shanghai friend might have been right that with a clear liquid that means it's not too oily but I do feel like it is slightly lacking in flavor and a little bit Bland like I would like there to be at least some oil in there so I mean what do I know you know this is my opinion and I am of course subject to my own tastes by the way look at how busy this place is getting just look like you can um like just look you can see the line already forming outside so we got here at a good time our other item has arrived though the sich doll or saled green beans now this is one of my favorite vegetable dishes of all time basically what this is and you'll find this at most Chinese restaurants or at least most authentic Chinese restaurants is that basically these are deep fried string beans and then I believe they're stir fried as well alongside with some delicious things like garlic and pork and things like that some nice savory flavors so this one at first glance is not looking as crispy as some other ones I've had but we'll give it a whirl I don't know they seem a little bit less crispy than ones I'm accustomed to I mean they don't look that crispy but I gave them the benefit of the doubt but after eating some they don't taste super crispy either like they're more so wrinkly than they're crispy and the things they add for flavor like garlic and pork and whatnot I don't really taste much of that either and I know it's concentrated over there but still the flavor isn't really sinking through in the whole dish so yeah I mean this is a very common vegetable you know like I said you'll find this at most authentic Chinese restaurants but a little disappointing that they didn't quite nail this one that one's a let down not many redeeming factors and now lastly I guess uh we'll try this tofu dish that Tina ordered this looks like some sort of like brazed tofu dish with mushrooms and the yeah actually this doesn't look bad so we will try a bite of this before we call it a vid and yeah I'm liking this tofu still steaming hot [Music] too it's also kind of spicy too so I got really caught I got really thrown for a loop but let's try one more and I do want to just comment on just how soft this tofu is like it's got softness but a slight rubbery texture on the outside making for a pleasant textural experience all right this time we're going to cool this guy down just look at that tofu on the inside it's very soft on the inside the inside tofu is almost like silken tofu while the outside I mean robbery was not a good adjective kind of more like a pleasant skin you know how like Everyone likes chicken skin on Fried Chicken it's not quite crispy like that but it's like a nice pleasant skin surrounding the tofu it's super wet and juicy on the inside the inside just tastes like a flavorless tofu but the outside really absorbed all the spicy sauce and these are some pretty decent quality tofu and I think they're like making these in house probably rather than just opening up a bag and pan frying the whole thing so I can get behind this this dish is a hit this tofu dish was solid this sauteed green beans not so much and the soup dumplings eh I feel like I've had better so I guess uh just going to wrap up the video you know we're going to slowly finish everything that we ordered but I guess I'll just say that overall Joe Shanghai I mean as you can see by that long line outside even more than 25 years after their Heyday like Joe Shanghai is still a really iconic restaurant and and I hadn't eaten here in many years so I just wanted to come and review it but I guess I'll just be honest I feel that I do think it kind of fell off I know that non soup dumplings dishes were never their specialty but even the soup dumplings I found to sort of be a little bit lacking in stronger flavor and a little bit Bland and some of the soup dumplings that I ate just didn't really have enough soup in them and lastly the skin I do find also a little bit on the thick end like there a little bit thick and uh you know not super thin so they do slightly mask the filling a little bit I think if you're new to New York Chinatown uh you know depending on where you are in the US or in the world if soup dumplings is not something that you often eat you know I think Joe Shanghai could be a decent experience I mean I mean believe it or not it can kind of be fun to wait in line and to be in such a crowded restaurant it's kind of part of the tourist experience and if you've never had St dumplings before it's definitely still a solid option but I do think there are better options I will say Joe Shanghai while iconic I will say now that it's a little bit overrated and overhyped and it is unfortunate that their prices have went up due to this but anyways that's just my take uh obviously this is just my opinion so what do you guys think if you guys have eaten at Joe Shanghai before recently many years ago what do you think of it and what's your favorite place to get Chinese soup dumplings and where do you think I should review next let me know in the comments because great minds eat alike and and if you like my videos make sure you like And subscribe that way you stay up to date whenever I post another video this tofu not bad not bad so going to snack on this so until next time I'll see you later [Music]

Channel: UA Eats

Views: 64,773

Keywords: Joe's Shanghai, Joe Shanghai, Joe's Shanghai NYC, Joe Shanghai NYC, Joe's Shanghai Chinatown, Joe's Shanghai soup dumplings, Joe's Shanghai xiao long bao, Joe's Shanghai xlb, NYC Chinese food, NYC Chinatown, best chinese food nyc, UA Eats, UA Eats chinese food, UA Eats china, UA Eats reviews, UA Eats vlogs

Id: BF6HGq467po

Length: 24min 0sec (1440 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 27 2024